This exhibition, devoted to chiaroscuro printmaking, also known as colour woodcutting, presents a technique that first appeared in Germany around 1508. It spread throughout Europe, and particularly to Italy, where it was practised with increasing sophistication until the 1650’s. This xylography technique then faded, experienced a short-lived revival in the 18th century, and underwent a renaissance in the last quarter of the 19th century.
The exhibits are organised in four sections: the first room displays masterpieces produced in the 16th century by Ugo da Carpi, Hendrick Goltzius, Antonio da Trento, Niccolò Vicentino, etc., based on works by Raphael and Parmesan, in particular. The next section is devoted to the Englishman John Baptist Jackson, who used this technique in a spectacular manner in the 18th century, to transcribe Venetian paintings such as Veronese’s The Wedding at Cana. This is followed by views of the Île-de-France countryside and portraits by the Geneva artist Pierre-Eugène Vibert, who brought chiaroscuro printmaking back into fashion in 1898. The last part presents the works of Swiss and Genevan artists such as Alice Bailly, Charles-Alexandre Mairet and Édouard Vallet, who took up Vibert’s art and tried out the technique at the very beginning of the 20th century.